Sheet feeders of this type are known in various forms in the prior art. Typically, such arrangements are embodied as chain conveyors, which frequently advance a sheet to the front marker of a printing machine or the like. A disadvantage of such chain conveyors is that because of their construction, including chains, they are relatively complicated and thus cost-intensive. The grippers are often even incorporated into the chain on a separate component in the form of a gripper carriage, which again entails a not-inconsiderable expenditure for construction. Moreover, chain conveyors are always quite noisy in operation and their mass is considerable, so that from the outset they are either unusable or only conditionally usable in high-speed machines.